The following is a list of
centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
, a
group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
of non-resonant
small Solar System bodies
A small Solar System body (SSSB) is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a natural satellite. The term was first IAU definition of planet, defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as fol ...
whose orbit around the Sun lie typically between the orbits of
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
and
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
(5 to 30
AU). Centaurs are
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s with characteristics of
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
s, and often classified as such. The dynamical group is formed due to Neptune's eroding effect on the
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times ...
by means of gravitational scattering, sending objects inward to become centaurs, or outward to become
scattered-disc objects, or removing them from the
Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
entirely. Centaurs themselves have unstable orbits with short lifetimes, transitioning from the inactive population of
Kuiper belt object
The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 times ...
s to the active group of
Jupiter-family comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...
s within a few million years.
List
The list of centaurs is compiled from
MPC's MPCORB data file
based on criteria defined by the
JPL-SBDB, and completed with objects from the ''List of Known Trans-Neptunian Objects''
and ''The Deep Ecliptic Survey Object Classifications''.
by William Johnston and
Marc Buie
Marc William Buie (; born 1958) is an American astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets who works at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado in the Space Science Department. Formerly he worked at the Lowell Observatory ...
, respectively. , this table contains 928 objects. A dedicated column for each of these sources inidcates whether an object is considered to be a centaur () or not (). The table highlights red and grey centaurs with a distinct background color ''(see legend)''.
; Legend
See also
*
List of trans-Neptunian objects
This is a list of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), which are minor planets in the Solar System that orbit the Sun at a greater distance on average than Neptune, that is, their orbit has a semi-major axis greater than 30.1 astronomical units (AU) ...
*
List of damocloids
*
Unusual minor planet In planetary science, the term unusual minor planet, or ''unusual object'', is used for a minor planet that possesses an unusual physical or orbital characteristic. For the Minor Planet Center (MPC), which operates under the auspices of the Internat ...
Notes
References
External links
The Dynamics of Known Centaurs Matthew S. Tiscareno and Renu Malhotra
The Deep Ecliptic Survey: A Search For Kuiper Belt Objects and Centaurs J. L. Elliot
{{Solar System
Centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
Centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
Centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...